I’m trying to file my taxes and it keeps asking me for my ex wife’s social security number. She used mine to file married filling separately but every time I try to find her social every government agency always tells me they cannot give me that info. I filed last year together with her on turbo tax but I can never get in touch with an agent. I’m feeling defeated please help.
You filed a joint 2022 return? Both SSN's will be on the 2022 return. If you have the account and user ID that were used, you can access the return. Or you can get a copy of the return from the IRS.
But.....when was the divorce finalized? If you were still legally married at the very end of 2023, you can file MFS. You both have to file the same way--either both of you have to use standard deduction or you both have to itemize deductions--it cannot be one of each.
You have to access your own account and/or print it for yourself using exactly the same account and user ID that you used when you prepared the return.
Start a 2023 return online and enter some personal information so that the menu on the left opens up and lets you access your past year returns.
Many people have multiple TT accounts and forget how to access them. Log out of the account you are in now.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901535-forgot-your-turbotax-online-user-id-or-password
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901486-how-many-turbotax-accounts-do-i-have
Or did you use the desktop version of TurboTax? If so, the files are on your own hard drive or any backup device you used like a flash drive.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901659-find-your-tax-data-file-in-mac
You can get a free transcript from the IRS or for a fee of $30, an actual copy of your tax return.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf
SAVE YOUR TAX RETURNS !
EVERY year before mid-October you should save a copy of your tax return as a pdf and print a copy of it for your records. That way you will not be searching online frantically when you need it for a lender, FAFSA forms, your next tax return, etc.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900937-why-should-i-save-a-pdf-copy-of-my-return
NOTE: TurboTax and the IRS save returns for seven years. Returns older than seven years are purged.
Do you have a copy of last year’s return? Her ssn should be on it. Did you use the Online version or the Desktop program? You can get a copy from the IRS on your account.
How to Access prior year online returns
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/prior-year-return/help/how-do-i-access-my-prior-year-return/00/27010
If you can't get the side menus to open up to access the prior year..... You need to start entering some basic Personal Info in 2023 for the side menu to open up. Just continue a little ways into 2023. I had to go though about 12 screens.
If you used the Desktop CD/Download program then the only copy is on your computer and not saved or stored online. So you need to make and keep your own backups.
Or request a transcript from the IRS
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript
Or get a copy of your return using form 4506
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf
You didn't say when your divorce was final. You can only file as married filing separately (MFS) for 2023 if you were still married on the last day of 2023. In other words, only if your divorce was not final until 2024. If the divorce was final on or before December 31, 2023, then you cannot file MFS for 2023, in which case you don't need her Social Security number. (That would also mean that the MFS return that your ex-wife filed is not valid).
Can you not ask your ex-wife for her Social Security number, explaining why you need it? If not, and if you don't have, and can't get, a copy of your 2022 joint tax return, another possible approach is to have your divorce lawyer contact her lawyer and ask her lawyer to provide you with her Social Security number, again explaining why you need it. You also need to know whether she claimed the standard deduction or itemized deductions on the 2023 MFS return that she filed, since, as xmasbaby0 pointed out, you have to do it the same way on your own MFS return.